The Four Basic Laws of Gun Safety Chaotix Style
by Chocolatedog
Summary: "Tourists on Angel Island? When was the last time that happened? Knuckles wondered. And somehow, he knew that they would be trouble." Based off the Four Basic Laws of Gun Safety. People are shot, but there's no blood. Cover by my sister, Storymaker the Echidna.
1. Chapter 1 & Foreword

The Four Basic Laws of Gun Safety— Chaotix Style

Foreword

A few quick notes—the 'Four basic laws of gun safety' were created by Jeff Cooper. They are not in order in this story. Obviously I am not responsible for anything stupid you do with a gun. This story is based off a story my sisters, Russian Blue Witch and StoryMaker the Echidna, and I made up verbally. That's about it. Have fun.

Chapter One

"What are you guys doing here?" Some very peculiar folks were running around the Emerald shrine—taking _photos_!

"We're _tourists_," one said. Knuckles couldn't even tell what species the guy was. He was concealed behind some shades, baggy jeans, a sweatshirt, and a hat.

"But- But who let you _in_?" Knuckles objected. It was hard to get permission to go sight-seeing on Angel Island.

"I have connections." Some of the people began taking pictures again. _Tourists on Angel Island? When was the last time _that_ happened?_ Knuckles wondered. And somehow, he knew that they would be trouble.

"I want to get a nice shot of Knuckles on the Master Emerald!" another tourist announced. Knuckles was getting annoyed.

"Go tour somewhere else! The Guardian Memorial, the mountains, the Pasta Shop—_Anywhere_!"

"We already saw all those places." The tourist with the sweatshirt and hat started to set up a huge camera. Knuckles thought the guy was purple under all that clothing, but who could even tell? The whatever-it-is practically stuck his head _in_ the camera. He aimed it at Knuckles, and… _BANG_! Knuckles suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The tourist's hat fell off as the noise was heard, revealing a purple echidna with a robotic eye and spine. Knuckles toppled off the emerald, but as he hit the ground he somehow got back on his feet. The guardian threw himself on the echidna, realizing that the "tourist" must be a member of the Dark Legion. The purple echidna was still looking through the camera, and he was still holding something when Knuckles struck him. The echidna fell back, holding the gun he tried to conceal behind the camera. _Bang_! _Bang_! _Bang_! The echidna uselessly fired several times in the air. Knuckles' injured shoulder stung, but he snatched the gun away. He desperately tried to shoot his enemy. _Click_. He tried again. Nothing. _Don't tell me it's out of ammo!_ Still, it wasn't useless. Knuckles turned the gun around and slammed the butt of the gun into the echidna's skull. But one of his fingers accidently knocked against the trigger. _BANG_! Pain flared through Knuckles' body as he blacked out. The gun had contained one last bullet.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"You did well, Scorch," a voice said. Knuckles slowly opened his eyes. He was tied down to a cot, and his arm and chest hurt. He saw an echidna… a purple echidna. It had a bandage wrapped around its head, and some cybernetic body parts. There was a red echidna too, with a metal fist… Knuckles closed his eyes again. "Look to the prisoner!" somebody called. Knuckles snapped back into reality. He was captured by the Dark Legion! Some time to even _think_ about taking a _nap_! He had been shot—but his injuries felt somewhat better now. Meanwhile, echidnas crowded around the guardian.

"Had a nice rest, Knuckles?" the part-robot red echidna—whom Knuckles now recognized as Kragok—said.

"A lovely one. Thanks for your hospitality," Knuckles growled. He strained against the ropes that bound him.

"I assure you, the pleasure's all mine. It's time to make a phone call. Lien-Da?" Kragok's sister pushed some buttons on a video cam. The screen fizzled. Lien-Da scowled and inserted several power rings from a drawer into a slot. The image slowly cleared, showing Espio, lit up in the glow of the Master Emerald. The chameleon's eyes widened.

"Mighty!" Espio called. "Some one's made contact with the Emerald!"

"What?" Mighty said, running up. He was closely followed by the rest of the Chaotix—Vector, Charmy, Ray, and Julie-Su. They all looked stunned. Knuckles realized that an image of the Dark Legion base must have been displayed on the Master Emerald. The guardian didn't know that Lien-Da and Kragok were capable of doing that.

"Hello," Lien-Da told the Chaotix. "Today is a very historic day. On this day, the Brotherhood will be no more. Angel Island shall be under the control of the Dark Legion from this point on." On the screen, Julie-Su raised her laser gun.

"That's what you think. There's no way you can beat us!" the pink echidna hissed.

"What are you going do? Shoot me? I'm not even near you! You'll just end up smashing the emerald, and your useless boyfriend did that often enough already. Speaking of your boyfriend…" A Dark Legion solider pushed Knuckles' cot in front of the camera.

"Here we have a win-win situation. If you surrender, we have the entire island. If you don't, you lose your strongest member. Do you give up?" Kragok asked the Chaotix.

"No!" Knuckles roared.

"No!" Vector echoed.

"Very well. Observe."Dozens of fighters faced Knuckles. They were armed with laser guns. Panicking, the guardian strained at the ropes. _Pop!_ His bonds were snapping! Knuckles leapt to his feet and backed against the wall. The odds were against him. He was injured, and facing a line of armed foes only thirty feet away. Then an idea struck him. _That could never work. Could it?_ He slowly approached the Dark Legion troops. With each step he took, the troops drew closer. When Knuckles was only ten feet away, he was completely surrounded. "FIRE!" Kragok shouted.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Meanwhile, Julie-Su watched as gunmen slowly approached Knuckles. Then she rapidly shot off a corner of the Master Emerald. An image of the scene at the Dark Legion hideout was displayed on the shard.

"What are you _doing_?" Vector yelled.

"We can track the Dark Legion through this and rescue Knuckles!" Julie-Su called as she ran off. Most of the Chaotix looked confused, but Mighty understood.

"Let's get it to Remington! He can use it to find out where the Legion's base is!" the armadillo said as he ran after Julie-Su. There was virtually no chance of getting to Knuckles before it was too late, but Julie-Su had to try. Within moments the whole gang arrived at the office of Remington, one of Knuckles' close friends and constable of Angel Island.

"Is something wrong?" Teri-Lu, Remington's secretary, asked.

"We need to get to the Dark Legion base!" Julie-Su said.

"Um, we don't know where it is, so—"

"Here!" Julie-Su pushed past the secretary and rammed into Remington's office.

"Julie-Su!" Remington said.

"Where's that tracking radar device?" Sensing the urgency of the situation, Remington quickly led her to the said device.

"Try putting the shard here," Ray suggested, pointing at a slot. Julie-Su rammed the gem into it.

_"Please enter pass code."_ Remington pushed toward the computer and complied. _"Loading. Pass code accepted. Generating map. Please enter coordinates."_ Again, Remington typed in the desired information. _"Loading…Loading…Map complete."_

"All _right_!" Vector cheered.

"We can't exactly take the computer with us," Espio pointed out.

"Maybe someone can stay here and tell the others how to get… wherever this is by radio." Remington suggested.

"So you'll do that?" said Charmy.

"I want to go with!"

"For goodness' sake!" Teri-Lu yelled, bursting in. "I'll do it."

"Great!" said Remington. "Um, where are we going?"

"Saving Knuckles from being shot to death by the Dark Legion," Mighty said.

"_What_?"

"Let's take helicopter," Ray suggested. He dashed out of the room. Soon the whole bunch was squeezed into a helicopter. Ray, by virtue of getting there first, controlled it. As Teri-Lu instructed the flying squirrel how to get to the previously hidden base, the rest of the Chaotix filled Remington in.

"But…" Remington said after the tale was finished. "Do you really think we'll be in time to save him? They were about to shoot him when you left to get me."

"We _will_," Julie-Su insisted. "Knuckles can take care of himself. Kragok's a fool if he thinks a few ropes and a handful of soldiers can keep Knuckles down."

Remington exchanged a quick glance with Vector at this confident statement, but then nodded.

"Fine. We'll save him."


	4. Chapter 4

"FIRE!" The echidnas, completely encircling Knuckles, fired off their guns. Two things happened at once. First of all, as soon as Kragok started the command, Knuckles leapt under the cot. Second, there were several yells of pain. The echidnas had encircled Knuckles—meaning they formed a circular firing squad! When each soldier fired his gun, the bullet landed in the person opposite to them. They did an extremely efficient job of picking off themselves, but, thanks to the cot Knuckles sheltered off, the guardian only received minor grazing. Lien-Da, however, was not in the firing squad. Unfortunately. She dashed over to Knuckles, laser gun in hand.

"You can't get out of this that easy," she snarled, pointing her weapon at him. Thinking fast, Knuckles grabbed one of the ropes on the ground and lashed out. Lien-Da's hand jerked and she ended up burning a hole in Knuckle's pillow. "Darn you!" As she prepared her gun to fire again, Knuckles forced his aching body forward. He tried to punch the pink and red echidna, but she fired, sending Knuckled hurdling toward the video cam. Just as the guardian felt himself blacking out, a tingly feeling shot through him. Chaos energy! The blackness began to fade away as the energy sunk through him. He groped for the drawer that Lien-Da procured the rings she used to power the video cam from. Moving slowly, so as to fool Lien-Da into thinking he was losing consciousness, he gradually opened the compartment. "Die, guardian!" Lien-Da yelled. Knuckles thrust the drawer all the way open, revealing hundreds of rings. He rapidly drew the energy toward himself, absorbing the rings. The sudden burst of such vast energy shot through Knuckles. He quickly used the power to reflect the laser Lien-Da had just shot at him. It zoomed back at the Dark Legion member and singed her spike. Knuckles leapt to his feet, health almost totally regained from the power rings. Lien-Da's face was clenched with fury, but to Knuckles' surprise it wasn't directed at him.

"You simmering _idiot_!" she screeched at her brother. The injured Grand Master blinked at her in surprise. "'There's no point in having to go out ring gathering whenever we need to power the machine,' you said. 'Let's just store _two hundred_ nearby!' You _moron!_" She gestured at Kragok with her laser gun. Knuckles snuck up behind her "Now look what hap—Eek!" Knuckles struck Lien-Da from behind. She compulsively fired her gun—which happened to still be pointed at Kragok. The laser hit his cyborg fist, and although the ray burned it, it reflected most of the laser… back at Lien-Da. She screamed and let go of her weapon. Knuckles snatched it up before it hit the ground. This time making sure it would_ not_ fire, he struck Lien-Da in the head with the butt of the gun. She fell to the ground, knocked out. Knuckles wouldn't kill her, even if she wanted to kill him. She was, after all, Julie-Su's disowned half-sister. Kragok was another story. Sure, he was related to Julie-Su too, but Kragok was, well, Kragok. Knuckles pointed the laser at him.

"_BACK UP_!" Kragok yelled into a speaker. "All patrolling soldiers to communication cent—Arg!" The injured Grand Master rolled aside as Knuckles fired at him. A big hole was burned into his cloak, but he had avoided damage. Kragok grabbed his gun and pulled the trigger. Knuckles grunted as he ducked aside, but he held up his own weapon and rather fried Kragok's gun. Then Knuckles heard pounding feet and glanced at the door. About ten Dark Legion members rushed into the room. Knuckles rolled underneath a chair to avoid the first volley of shots, then zigzagged forward, firing his gun at the troops once or twice. Several lasers came within inches of burning the guardian, but thanks to his zigzag running pattern he managed to get close enough to start punching and zapping the echidnas. But Knuckles was still outnumbered. He couldn't keep it up forever, but at the very least we wouldn't go down without a fight.


	5. Chapter 5

Chap'tah Fuh! 

Ray expertly landed the helicopter in a clump of bushes that could theoretically hide the 'copter from a passing butterfly. They all scrambled out of the vehicle, got scratched on the bushes, and rushed toward a seven foot-tall, square, metal building. Two cloaked echidnas stood outside it. Julie-Su silently passed Espio her tazer-laser. Espio nodded and turned invisible. The rest of the Chaotix crouched behind some more bushes to watch. There wasn't much to watch, as Espio was invisible. All they saw was a sudden flash of light, and the guards slumped to the ground, knocked out. A security camera also abruptly chose to turn around and start monitoring the wall. Espio flashed into view for just long enough to gesture to his comrades to come. They quickly dashed forward. Remington grabbed the glove of one of the knocked out guards and flashed the cuff in front of a lock. The door opened, revealing an elevator. Julie-Su stepped forward, but an invisible hand pushed her back. Disembodied footsteps went in the elevator, and a camera Julie-Su hadn't noticed before was turned to face the wall.

"It's all clear now," Espio quietly grunted. The gang crammed themselves inside. Espio returned the tazer-laser. The elevator began to travel deep under the ground. _Bing._ The elevator stopped. But Kragok was, apparently, nobody's fool. Two guards were stationed outside the elevator. Quick as lightning, Vector and Mighty each hit one with a hefty blow, knocking them out before they had time to cry out. Well, one did _begin_ to shout, but _hopefully_ it didn't matter. The group ran out. There was no time for redirecting the rest of the security cameras. The corridors were empty, but the sound of fighting echoed from one door at the end of the corridor marked 'Communication Center'.

"I'll take a peek," Charmy offered, pointing at a tiny window near the cealing.

"Take this," Remington said, handing his gun over. "Just in case." Charmy took it and put his finger on the trigger. Then he flew down the hall and up to the window.

He softly called, "Come-on-come-on! This is the right-" His finger must of slipped, because a loud gun shot sounded, and a flash of light came from Remingtom's gun. Julie-Su thought she heard Charmy mumble "oops", but it didn't matter. A pattering of footsteps came from down the hall, and a Dark Legion member who evidently heard the pistol fire ran up, laser gun flashing. Charmy yelled as a laser hit him. Julie-Su drew her own laser gun and shot the foe down, but not before he injured Vector and singed Mighty's shell. "Sorry..." the injured Charmy mumbled, but Julie-Su was already bursting through the door. Several cloaked heads turned to face her. _Fzzzam! Fzzzam!_ She fired her laser gun over and over. Remington scooped his own gun away from Charmy and joined in the fight. Then Ray swooped above the crowd, and when the fighters looked up to aim at him, Mighty spin-rolled them.

"Arrrrg!" A laser struck Julie-Su's cyborg spike. It felt like her entire head was on vibrate mode. She slumped down... But then she felt someone grab her. "Knuckles!" Julie-Su scrambled to her feet. Knuckles stepped aside as a laser zoomed past. He tensed his muscles to fight, but Remington caught his arm.

"Look," he said. "We came here to get you. We did that. We have to _go_ now!" Knuckles reluctantly nodded.

"Chaotix! Fall back!" He ordered. Mighty and Ray quickly ran to Knuckle's side, and Vector staggered over. Espio threw a Dark Legion member to the ground and dashed over, but Charmy has recovered enough to grab some files and dump them over the troops' heads, and seemed to be enjoying it. "Char_my_!" Knuckles persisted, and the bee finally flew over. The Chaotix sped out of the room and made for the elevator. No one tried to stop them; at this point all the Dark Legion wanted was for them to leave. At last they were all up the elevator and into the open air. There was a stunned silence, as all the mayhem and excursion finally caught up with them.

"Hey, thanks for saving me," Knuckles said after a while.

"No prob'," panted Vector.

"C'm on! It was at least a little 'prob'!" Charmy objected.

"I'd say it was a _big_ 'prob'," Remington said.

"But it was worth it," Julie-Su concluded.

"Definitely," the others said.

"We better get back," said Knuckles. He organized who would help the injured ones back to the helicopter. After Charmy pointed out the Remington's holster had fallen off during the battle, Knuckles reluctantly let the bee hold the pistol- _after_ Remington told him the four basic laws of gun safety.

1. All guns are always loaded._ (See chapter one, paragraph 7)_

2. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it._ (See chapter four, paragraph 1)_

3. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy._ (See chapter four, paragraph 3)_

4. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. _(See chapter five, paragraph 5)_


End file.
